A Beginners Guide to World of Tanks

Welcome to Enderclaw8’s guide to World of Tanks! This guide is for those who wish to learn about the game and those who wish to start playing. It will cover the different tank types, armor mechanics, shells, gun styles, and game modes. Also included is an invite code, my clan information, and how I managed to win 80 premium vehicles. Images captured from my garage and tech tree.

Types of Tanks

There are five different types of tanks in World of Tanks, each with different attributes and play styles. Light tanks allow for spotting the enemy and providing support when possible. Medium tanks are good for backing up heavies and lights. Heavy tanks are the brute force of the team, and generally the primary focus for tank destroyers and artillery. Tank destroyers are some of the best snipers, with good damage to boot. Artillery, or Self-Propelled Guns, are the long range damagers of the team.

Light Tanks (LT)

Light tanks are the speed demons of the game, with the exception of the French tanks up to tier V. Lights are normally tasked for spotting, as they have sufficient spotting ranges and speed to do so, but you don’t wanna hang around for too long in case the enemy turns their guns on you, as you don’t have much armor. Try to set a target bush to conceal your tank in or drive along a ridge line, trying not to expose too much of your vehicle. Spotting is necessary for the fight as it allows your allies to attack the enemy and allow artillery to reach tanks that others cannot hit. All nations, with the exception of Britain, have light tanks as tier I. Notable light tanks to go for are the German Pz I C, American XM551 Sheridan, French line and Russian line.

T7 Combat Car, Tier II American Light (no longer available)

Medium Tanks (MT)

Medium tanks are the jack-of-all-trades kind of tank. They provide support to lights and heavies, and some can hold off surprisingly well against enemy heavies. Most have moderate armor, while some have lots. Some mediums have good guns and damage, while others can be below your expectations. Stick with the heavies for protection and spot when necessary. Notable mediums to go for are the American M4 Sherman, French BC 25 t, German Pz IV H, and British Matilda.

M4 Sherman, American Medium Tank

Heavy Tanks (HT)

Heavy tanks are the brute force of the game. Some have large 15cm howitzers while others just have dinky little guns. All have lots of armor, while others have a bit too much. Heavies are researched through the tech tree from medium tanks, rarely branching from light tanks directly. Heavies are quite the force to be reckoned with, and it is not advisable to take one on alone, unless you are completely confident in your gun. Notable heavies are the Russian KV-2, American T29, Japanese heavies, and German Maus and E100.

T34, Premium American Tier VIII Heavy Tank

Tank Destroyers (TD)

Also heavy hitters, these tanks are good for eliminating enemies from a distance. Some of them have their guns in the hull, while others have a turret. The turreted TDs have an advantage over cased TDs because the ones with 360 rotation can still pick off enemies who have tracked the tank. Cased TDs and limited turret traverse have to rotate the entire vehicle to reach targets outside of their traverse range. Most TDs have long reloads, so if you’re being shot at, try to fall back or get behind cover until you can peek out and shoot. Notable TDs include American Hellcat, German Jagdpanther, Swedish Strv 103B.

Skorpion G, German Tier VIII Premium Tank Destroyer

Artillery (SPGs)

Artillery can be fun, but it can also be a pain in the butt. Artillery starts off at tier II and can go up to tier X. Sometimes they can hit their target, while others often miss. Tier V through X tanks have a stun mechanic that slows down the target’s functions, like increasing reload time and shortening view range. The BC 155 58, French tier X SPG, has an autoloader, but insane reload time of 75 seconds, so its best to avoid that tank. Other SPGs in that line are decent, so have fun up till 7 or 8. Notable artillery include the American M41 HMC, British Birch Gun, and German Grille.

Roles you play

Spotting (faster vehicles) and Sniping (TD)

There are several different roles you play on a team during a match, and each are dependant on the type of tank. However, your role may switch if the tide turns in battle. Spotter, the main focus of light tanks and faster vehicles, is where you use your speed and your spotting range to drive to a good bush or ridge and detect enemies for your allies. This allows them to open fire on the enemy and eliminate them at the beginning of the match. Snipers are the primary role of the tank destroyers. This typically involves sitting in a bush for the majority of the match and make shots at any available enemies within range.

Artillery and Mediums

Artillery function similarly to tank destroyers except for the fact that they have much larger ranges. Heavies focus mainly on taking out any and all targets that their guns can penetrate. Mediums can perform any of the tasks above, except for artillery functions. If a medium is fast enough, they can support the lights in case they get compromised or all are destroyed. They also help heavies if they start to get overmatched.

Line Duties

Frontline duties are covered by the lights and mediums. Midline duties involve mediums and heavies. The back lines are covered by the straggling heavies, TDs, and SPGs. I try to advise my allies that they should spread out evenly along each flank in case one gets compromised, but the majority of them don’t listen and a lemming train forms. Lemming trains are where the majority of your allies all rush one flank, leaving two or less allies to deal with the other flank. I extremely advise against doing this, cause this normally results in defeat. If you see your allies forming a lemming train, go with the flow.

Tank Attributes

Armor

The most important thing about your tank, besides your gun, is your armor. The front of the tank is stronger than the back, meaning that enemies will try to circle your tank to eliminate you. This becomes a problem if your turret has slow traverse speed or you become detracked in a turretless TD. If the enemy is starting to punch through your armor, find a good spot to keep your hull protected while exposing only a small bit of turret while firing. This presents a smaller target to your enemy, especially if they have bad dispersion. Turrets that have exposed cupolas for commanders will be the primary focus for some enemies, as it hinders your vehicle. The more angle you have in your hull, the likely it is for an enemy shell to bounce off.

Shell Types

Armor piercing, known in-game as AP, is your standard shell type for the majority of tanks. AP has your standard penetration rates and standard damage. APCR, or armor piercing composite-rigid, is used in the Swedish tanks as their standard ammo. APCR has better penetration rates than AP, but has the same damage. High Explosive, aka HE, has more damage than AP and APCR, but has less penetration. HE is used in howitzers and artillery, and best used against spaced armor and damaging modules, like tracks. High Explosive Anti Tank, known as HEAT, deals a bit more damage and has better penetration than HE, often outclassing APCR. High Explosive Squash Head, or HESH, is similar to HE and is commonly found on British tank destroyers. Other ammunition is often more expensive than AP, so it is best to use premium ammo sparingly.

Gun Types

There are many types of guns that are available in the game. There are your standard single shot guns, your howitzers (aka derp lasers), your classic autoloaders, your machine-gun style autoloaders, and a new mechanic, that will be released in a future update in 2018, known as autoreloaders. Standard guns have varying reloads depending on the caliber, and decent rate of fire. They shoot one shell per click then reload, similarly to a .22 caliber rifle.

AMX M4 46, Premium Tier 8 French Heavy, facing off against a VK 100.01 P, a German tier 8 Heavy. Both tanks use single shot guns.

Derp Lasers and Classic Autoloaders

Derp lasers, identified as howitzers, are available on SPGs and some tanks. They shoot at lower velocities than other guns and sometimes cause large amounts of damage if the HE hits in the right place. The stronger howitzers have longer reloads than other guns. Notable tanks with derp lasers are the Russian KV-2, Japanese O-I, German Pz IV H, and the American M4 Sherman. Classic autoloaders function similarly to a revolver. They load up a set amount of shells, then with each click they can be unleashed onto your opponent. Notable classic autoloaders include the French lights (VI-X), the Swedish Strv m/42-57, AMX 13 57 GF, and American T71 DA.

German tier V Pz IV H, with a derp laser mounted. It may not look like one, but the other two shell types indicate a derp gun.

Machine Gun Autoloaders

Machine gun autoloaders function similarly to classic autoloaders, with the exception that they shoot more than one shell per click. Some tanks can shoot two shells, while others can shoot 8. The tank with the least amount of shell icons (the amount of times you can click your mouse to fire) is the American M5 Stuart, which shoots 5 shells per shot. The tank with the most amount of shell icons is the T7 Combat Car, with 10 shell icons (pictured in the LT section). Notable machine gun autoloaders are the German Pz I C, American T7 CC, and the British Cruiser series.

The clip capacity of the T7. Shoots 5 shells per click, or 50 when held down.

Tech Tree and Premiums

The tech tree is where you research all your tanks. There are currently 10 nations in the game. Poland and Italy will be added into the game at a later time. Each tree starts off as a light tank at tier I, except for Britain, which has a medium tank as a tier I. The tier I tank then branches off into the mediums, SPGs, tank destroyers, and other light tanks at tier II. To get to the heavy tanks, you will have to go through the medium tanks. No tech tree in the game currently has a heavy tank line that starts at tier II.

Premium tanks are interspersed throughout the tech trees, and must be purchased with gold or through the premium store. Some tanks are not available any more, such as the T7 Combat Car, as they were reward tanks for a special event. The GF, or Grand Finals tanks, are special tanks that Wargaming released to celebrate the Wargaming League North America finals. These cannot be purchased in the tree and are available in the premium shop.

American Tech tree, showing current vehicles researched and in garage.

Game Modes and battle types

Team Training Rooms

There are a variety of game types available to play. Standard, Encounter, Assault, and Grand Battle. Standard involves two teams of 15 players attempting to eliminate the other team or capture their base. Encounter involves two teams duelling it out or attempting to capture the neutral base. Assault is like Encounter, with 1 flag, but one team has to defeat the enemy team while they attempt to destroy the other or capture their flag. Grand Battles are only available in Team Training rooms or at tier X. These involve 30 vs 30 matches on one big map.

Team training rooms are smaller matches of people on one map, ranging from 2 to 30 (or 60 if on a GB map). People can host minigames, like RvC (runners vs chasers), hide and seek, racing, or they could simply just chill. There are also ranked battles (for tier X to participate in), Skirmishes for 7v7 battles, proving ground (for tiers I and II to face bots), and the boot camp. Use the boot camp when you start for dealing with these topics in a friendlier format.

Standard Match and Platooning

These matches involve two teams of 15 people trying to eliminate the other or capture the enemy base. Depending on the map and playstyle of the teams, battles can finish pretty quick or drag out into a long search for the remaining enemies. Platoons of 3 people can be formed by clicking on the icon next to the desired player’s name whilst holding ctrl. An invite will be sent to the player, and bingo a platoon is formed. Sometimes you might get invited to a platoon, so just click on the icon that appears next your name in the player list to be added or form a platoon with the invitee. Platoons allow players to enter battles together and on the same team instead of separated and/or put on the enemy team. Sometimes, people decide to form platoons and only stick around for one match, which I often find upsetting, but it's probably for a reason.

Encounter and Assault Matches

Encounter matches play similarly to Standard, with the exception of the bases. There is only one base which can be captured by any team, but not at the same time. If there are enemies in the base while you or your allies are capping, the capture bar at the top will pause until one team removes the enemy from the cap circle. Assault modes play similarly to Encounter with the flag, but one team has to destroy the enemy team while the other team has to cap their base or destroy them. Assault matches require a bit more strategy than Standard battles. The attacking team has to take the defending base or destroy the enemy team, while the defending team has to protect their flag by destroying the attacking team.

Grand Battles

Grand Battles are large-scale versions of Standard battles, with a big map and 30 people on each team. This mode is available when you reach tier X tanks and in team training rooms. Grand battles take a bit longer than the other matches to complete, because of the map size and player amounts. The map size is also good for hide and seek minigames in team training rooms. Two maps have been made for this mode.

Nebelberg, one of the maps for grand battles

Nebelberg, the first map, has a town to the northwest for heavy tank brawling, a castle in the middle for mediums and heavies, and a hilly area to the southeast for tank destroyers and mediums. A few locations in the city can often exchange fire from the central castle and the hills in the east. Klondike, the second grand battles map, is set in the snowy north, with a construction section in the northwest and a small village in the southeast. There is a lot of water near the village, and tanks can often drown if ventured too far. Both maps are 4x1.4 km in size.

Klondike

How I won 80 Premiums and other information

To start, go watch this video. All the way through. Then, scroll down and read the comment by “Enderclaw the Cyborg.” That would be mine. A 1/500 chance, or 0.2%. This was on November 22 of last year. Fast forward to December 2nd.

I got home from a robotics tournament and decide to play some tanks on the Common Test server, a little server where you have a bunch of gold, credits, and free xp to research tanks up to tier X (these do not transfer over to the live server). I open up the client and after selecting a tier X tank, I open up the team training list. This is the only spot where the English players can talk, as random battles are dominated by the Russians. It's a Russian game. I’m sitting in the lobby of the room and someone informs me that I just won 80 premium tanks for free. At first, I thought “this guy is pulling my leg,” then he links the following video here. You can close it at 4:25.

I could not believe it! I was absolutely mind-blown. 80 premium tanks, that cost about $2,000, for free. I was stunned for a week, until about December 11 or 12. That’s when they started coming in. Some of the tanks I had before but sold to get credits, so I got them back. I also got 7,000 gold to use (probably from the T26E4 Super Pershing which I had already) and I spent it all on getting the next few tanks in a few trees.

My favorites are Lorraine 40 t, Rheinmetall Skorpion G, SU-100Y, and the T7 Combat Car. Full list is available here. Gun sounds for some of these tanks are in this playlist. World of Derps, my youtube series, can also be found on my channel. If you are interested in playing, go onto the World of Tanks website and use the invite code WOTREDDIT for a surprise. Note: if you are not in the NA region but can speak and understand english, go on to the NA site and get the NA client, cause otherwise you won’t be able to platoon with me and join my clan, Enderclan[HUNTR]. Send me a friend invite in-game at Enderclaw8[HUNTR]. If you join Enderclan, you can get a special badge, a chance to be featured in the next World of Derps episode, and a platoon opportunity. I can also send a direct invite through email, but I can only send 5, so claim your spot fast.

The supposedly long barrel of the Krupp-Steyr Waffentrager.

The 90 degree elevation of the Pz Sfl IV C. Can only be accomplished while in sniper mode.

Posing after a historical battle in the Jagdtiger 8,8cm.

Swedish Strv m/42-57

Swedish Strv S1

Russian KV-1

Russian SU-100Y

British TOG II*

Lorraine 40 t

Tiger 131

XM551 Sheridan (not researched)

AMX 13 75 (not researched)

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